I first met the lovely folks from King’s Hawaiian at Bloggy Boot Camp back in May. If you follow my blog, you know that I’m hardly a gourmand or a foodie. Simple, frugal, hearty, yummy, budget friendly….those are my criteria. So keeping my core concepts in mind, I came up with this French Toast Bake.

I’ve tried several similar recipes that I found online, and was never able to find one that wasn’t soggy. I just really dislike soggy, mushy French Toast or French Toast Bake. You will find that this one is considerably drier than others you’ve had, but I prefer it that way for the toppings.

I am going to do this next week, because many of the steps can be done ahead of time so that all you have to do in the morning is assemble it and bake it. Perfect for the holidays or special occasions!

easy, make-ahead French Toast bake using King’s Hawaiian rolls

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

50 mins

 

Author: Lisa

Cuisine: breakfast, easy, frugal

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• Package of 8 King’s Hawaiian sandwich rolls
• 8 eggs-use more for soggier/moister bake
• ½ cup of half & half (milk or cream will do)
• 2 tsp of vanilla
• sprinkled cinnamon/sugar mixture
• Can/jar of prepared pie filling or canned fruit topping, I chose the jarred apples from Cracker Barrel.
• Optional-3 T of butter

Instructions

1. There are two ways to prepare this, with or without the butter.
2. Preheat over to 350. Lightly spray a baking dish (8×8 or round) with non-stick something.
3. For both options, you break apart the rolls into large bite-sized pieces. For option one, you then sauté those bites in a pan with butter, sprinkling with the cinnamon/sugar mixture until browned. Once that step is complete, toss into your baking dish.
4. I tossed my pieces right into the baking dish and sprinkled, skipping the butter step.
5. In a dish, mix the eggs, vanilla and milk. Mix it well, I prefer a hand mixer.
6. Pour over the bread crumbs and bake for 30-40 minutes. Serve with the fruit topping that you chose.

Notes

Since the rolls are sweeter than a regular bread, I chose a tart cooked apple topping. I would recommend something that is on the tart or sour side, to contrast the sweet flavor of the bread. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve. I also had this leftover, warmed in the microwave for 30 seconds and served with maple syrup and it was good that way too. This recipe doubles easily and you can do the bread the night before and keep it in a sealed plastic bag. I also have done my egg mixture the night before in a sealed container. Then, the next morning all I had to do was a quick stir and assemble it for baking to save time. Great for holiday breakfasts.

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